In-house Ed at IBM

PERHAPS NOTHING symbolized the IBM of the past more than its fabled salesmen in the gray flannel suits. But since 1994 the old-line computer company has pushed itself to the forefront of direct marketing. In fact, IBM has an elaborate certification program for promoting its DM and database marketing employees.

IBM has direct marketing and database marketing specialists (implementers), strategists (thinkers) and managers (bosses). Those at the strategist or manager level can be certified as (this gets a little confusing) direct marketing or database marketing managers-which doesn’t mean they necessarily manage people, but they have more responsibility and may oversee special projects.

A DM-manager hopeful must submit an application highlighting three outstanding projects he or she has worked on. Criteria for promotion include how deep an understanding of direct marketing the projects show and how much money they have brought in.

Applicants “have to be responsible for driving a substantial amount of revenue,” says IBM’s director of industry direct marketing Loren L. Zeller, who has headed up the program since 1994. Additionally, IBM must have a business need for a new DM manager. The requirements are the same for those in database marketing.

Applications are evaluated by three interviewers from a certification board made up of six executives and senior employees who are either certified or have many years of DM or database marketing experience. The board is chaired by North American vice president of direct marketing John Brantley.

The club is quite exclusive. Since it started the program, IBM has certified only 20 direct marketing and database marketing professionals worldwide. Seventeen are in the United States (IBM has 525 direct marketers in North America).

In addition to the certification carrot, since 1994 IBM has conducted an annual direct marketing seminar (1,100 employees attended this year’s in Nashville, TN); a customer loyalty and retention symposium for executives; and an “Ultimate Book Club,” which selects four or five books per year for members to read at no cost.

“We had quite a challenge and still have a ways to go,” Zeller says. “I see the skill level within my team just growing and growing.”